Mario 3DS announced, people act surprised

Don’t be too shocked, but a new Nintendo system will in fact be getting a new Mario game.Nintendo President Satoru Iwata announced the news today during his GDC keynote. Details are scarce at the moment, with a full reveal taking place at E3 in June but we know that the same team who worked on the excellent Super Mario Galaxy are working on this game. All Iwata showed was a logo, that features a tail not unlike the Tanooki tail from Super Mario Bros 3, and some nice looking screenshots (left) which show a game resembling Super Mario 64 more than Super Mario Galaxy. It’s also interesting to note that the bottom left picture shows small Mario, which has only previously happened in the 2D titles.

While the main Mario titles don’t tend to change much in terms of gameplay outside of location, they are usually very enjoyable and tight platformers, so I imagine this new 3DS title will be the same. Super Mario Galaxy also got the best out of the Wii’s graphics power so perhaps this game will be an example of what the device is really capable of.